


In Any Other World

by ComposerofDiscord



Category: Justice League: Gods and Monsters (2015)
Genre: Established Relationship, I got some muffled screaming for this, M/M, not sure how to take that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-07
Updated: 2017-07-07
Packaged: 2018-11-28 18:43:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11423886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ComposerofDiscord/pseuds/ComposerofDiscord
Summary: Hernan gets stuck in the main universe, and discovers how different things are from his own world.





	In Any Other World

He knew he shouldn’t have left. He knew he should have listened to what the other man had told him, but as soon as he had heard it – the strong solid beat he had spent sleepless nights listening to through the walls of the cave, he took off. 

Against his better judgement, he chased after the familiar song he had been dreaming about the past few days – weeks, for it was what he needed the most.

Although he broke the rules, he didn’t break them entirely. He was careful to land in an alleyway out of sight before brusquely making his way down the street towards his desired destination.

“Guerra, he won’t be the same.” the voice from his earpiece warned, yet Hernan’s steps never faltered.

“I know.”

“You are jeopardizing the timeline.”

Hernan didn’t respond.

“Guerra, return to the cave now!”

“I need to see him, Batman, and you cannot stop me.” Hernan tossed the ear piece aside. He didn’t care that with every second he was here, he threatened the time line. He didn’t care if with every person who saw him, threatened all the sacred and natural laws that balanced all the universes and different worlds. Even if time folded onto itself or ripped apart by the fissures Hernan made, he was willing to risk it all.

He needed to see him; he needed to see Kirk.

The beat paused, then struck its course once more.

“Can I help you?” the stranger asked. His blue eyes were hidden behind dark frames, with wrinkles sprouting from the corners. They were the kind only caused by the long hours squinting at test tubes and peering through illuminated microscopes. They were the kind of wrinkles one had by the upturning of the corners of their eyes in time with the upward curl of lips. Even now, the corners of the man’s eyes crinkled, and the upward curve of his lips soft.

Hernan could only stare.

The man waited patiently for a moment before the framed eyes fixed him with a stern look. “Please, if you are going to stand there silently, then at least move over two steps. You are upsetting the birds.”

Hernan looked down, and to his surprise, there were pigeons circling his feet, and pecking the ground for crumbs.

“Lo siento.” Hernan moved over as requested before asking. “Is that seat taken?”

“By all means,” the man said indifferently, although his eyes remained wary.

Hernan thanked him, and sat down a foot or so away from the other on the park bench. It was quiet. The man said nothing nor did Hernan. Instead Hernan simply listened. He listened to the solid thud of the man’s heart who was sitting beside him.

It was the same.

“Are you a scientist?” Hernan suddenly broke the silence that had befallen them. The man looked over surprised, before averting his gaze back at the pigeons.

“Was it the jacket that gave it away?” the man huffed bemused.

Hernan couldn’t help but smile in return. “Sí.”

“Hm, you’re quite the detective.” the man leaned back against the bench with his long legs crossed. “If your dark jacket is anything to go by, and a tourist too for initiating small talk with a stranger in a Gotham park.”

“No, and yes.” Hernan answered truthfully. “I’m not much for detective work, and I’m not from Gotham.”

The man nodded knowingly. “So where are you from, stranger?”

Hernan paused for a moment before answering. “Metropolis.”

“Across the bay? Then you’re not much of a tourist.” the man gave Hernan a measured look, but eventually let go whatever he had to say with a hand running through his silver-white hair. The simple motion drew Hernan’s gaze towards the glint of gold that wrapped around the man’s finger.

“You’re married?”

The man paused, and removed his hand from his hair to look at the ring in question before looking over at Hernan. “Yes, for twenty years. And yourself?”

Hernan looked down at his own fingers. “Sí, four years.”

“Four? Practically still newlyweds.” the older man offered a polite smile. “Is the Mrs. here as well, or is this a business trip?”

 _‘Mrs?’_ Hernan balked before a smile spread across his own features. “Business.”

“Hm, I was about to question why a young man such as yourself would leave their wife to talk to an old man on a park bench, but then again, I suppose you could ask the same of me.”

A dark brow rose in question, “Are you not supposed to be here?”

The man shook his head, “I… you see these crumbs? They are from the sandwich my wife prepared for me. It’s four days old. I never got to eat it. I was too busy working that it slipped my mind, but she made it for me anyway knowing I would most likely not eat it. She even made it with her special Russian dressing she knows I love, and I… I must sound terrible to you.”

Hernan shook his head. “No, my… partner is the same way.”

“They make you sandwiches?”

“No, they don’t go near the kitchen.” Hernan laughed to himself at the memory of Kirk trying to make something for him. Even though it was charred and burnt, Hernan ate it all. “My partner is forgetful. They’re consumed by their work, but that doesn’t make them a terrible person. It just makes them passionate, and I enjoy when they tell me about their work. I might not understand all of it, but if it’s something they love, then I support them.”

Blue eyes blinked behind their frames in surprise before the man’s smile curved softly – genuinely instead of politely. “I’m not sure whether this is newlywed talk, but I’m sure your partner is very lucky to have you.”

“On the contrary.” Hernan shook his head. _‘He… doesn’t need me.’_ “I’m sure, if your wife takes time to make sandwiches you will never eat, she feels the same way I do.”

“Is that so?” the man nodded. “Well in that case, I should be heading off.”

“Are you happy?”

The older man paused. “Happy?”

Hernan knew he had spoken out of turn, but the words slipped out before he could catch them. The man averted his gaze down towards the pigeons for a moment or two before a sheepish smile crossed familiar features.

“That is an odd question, but at the end of the day, I would say I am.” he offered Hernan a departing smile. “Enjoy your stay, stranger.”

“Gracias.” Hernan watched the older man leave. He heard the thud of the heart grow fainter with each step, but he knew it. He knew it better than his own. It was his. It was him. It was Kirk, and he was happy.

_‘In another world, where I am never born, you are happy.’_

“Guerra.”

Hernan glanced up to see another pair of blue eyes behind framed glasses. “Kent.”

He was this world’s superman. They shared the same biological mother except Hernan was a mistake. Hernan’s birth wasn’t meant to be. The world was supposed to have Kal-El, not him. Not Hernan. The world was supposed to have the Justice League Superman had shaped, not the one he had, and Batman… Batman was not Kirk. Kirk, the older man, had hands that never punched anyone – never clawed at anyone’s throat. Instead it had a golden ring… a wife he loved. He wasn’t a monster; he was happy.

“It’s time. Batman is waiting for you in the cave.” Clark interjected Hernan’s thoughts.

Hernan nodded. “Sí, I’m ready to go back home.”

_‘I don’t belong in this world… and maybe I don’t belong in mine either.’_

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: So…. I’m sorry? Maybe. I don’t know. I’ve had this idea for a while, and finally got down to writing it. And I apologize for the little context in this story, but basically Hernan gets trapped on Earth one where Batman is Bruce Wayne and Superman is Clark Kent. He ends up spending several weeks there as Bruce tries to build a portal to send Hernan back. In the interim, Hernan learns about their world. He learns more about Krypton through Clark, and his relationship with Clark (even though they’re technically half brothers) is strained at best. So really he’s in a world he feels like is the way things should have been, and his existence in the other world is what caused it to be the way it is, which is not all gleaming and sparkly with morals. Also, the title of this comes from the song [“Any Other World”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JRvviNXmWY) by MIKA.
> 
> P.S. This Kirk is from the movie “Son Of Batman” so he has silver hair, his wife Francine, and a daughter, Rebecca.


End file.
